The Saturday January 9, 2016 drawing of the multi-state Powerball lottery will be the largest jackpot in the history of the country. And Michigan Powerball players are snapping up tickets at a record pace.

Michigan Lottery spokesman Jeff Holyfield tells us that as of 4pm this afternoon, Michigan Lottery players have already purchased 2.4-million tickets for the game today alone, all in search of the record high jackpot. Players have been buying an average of more than 240,000 tickets per hour today, but even that may soar inasmuch as in the most recently completed hour-long block of 3pm to 4pm today, players snapped up nearly 430,000 tickets.

During the peak lunch hour buying time, established by lottery officials as the 10am to 2pm window, players bought more than 1.2-million tickets, producing an hourly average of 310,000 tickets sold.

If the frenzy of ticket continues on Saturday, and there's no reason to think that it won't, the jackpot could grow to well beyond $800 million.